Chapter 121 :On the Road
The car roared across the cracked pavement, chewing up the distance between Alexandria and whatever place Michael Reed had in mind.
Axel sat in the passenger seat, his body rigid, hands resting on his knees like a soldier awaiting orders. He didn't ask where they were going. He didn't speak at all.
The silence inside the car was suffocating.
Michael drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting on his knee. The window was halfway down, letting in the dry wind that tossed his graying hair back.
He glanced at Axel.
"You always were quiet when you were afraid."
Axel didn't react.
Michael smiled, but there was no warmth. "Or maybe I knocked the noise out of you when you were five, huh?"
Axel's fingers curled slowly, nails digging into his palms.
"I trained you better than this," Michael continued. "All that softness I saw back there… that wasn't my boy. That was some stray mutt Alexandria raised. That girl—Maggie—she made you weak."
Axel finally turned his head, slowly.
"I wasn't weak," he said softly. "I was finally human."
Michael laughed.
It was a cold, sharp sound. "Human? Humanity died the day this world ended. I didn't raise a human. I raised a survivor."
Axel turned his eyes to the window. Trees rushed past. Empty roads. Silence and wind. He spoke again.
"You didn't raise me. You broke me."
Michael's grip on the wheel tightened.
"I forged you," he said. "Steel doesn't bend easy. You were a weapon. And then you went and dulled yourself trying to play house with strangers. You let your blade rust in the mud."
"No," Axel said. "I cleaned off the blood. That's what I did. I tried to live."
Michael slammed the brakes.
The tires screeched, dust clouding around them. The car stopped in the middle of the road.
Michael turned to him, voice low and sharp. "You call that living? Playing pretend with people who wouldn't last a second in a real war? You're not normal. You're not meant to be."
Axel stared at him. His face was unreadable.
Michael leaned closer. "I made you to outlive gods, Axel. And what did you do? You fell in love. You smiled. You talked about feelings."
Axel's jaw clenched.
Michael sat back and shook his head. "I came back to see if the weapon I built was still there. You know what I found?"
Axel turned his head.
"A boy," Michael growled. "A boy pretending he had a heart."
There was a pause.
Then Axel finally spoke.
"You buried your wife and son, right?"
Michael blinked, thrown off by the sudden question.
Axel continued. "You said you saw them dead. That you buried them. Ohh right i did and you know what"
Michael's jaw moved, but he said nothing.
"I buried you too," Axel said. "I cried so hard I puked. I starved. I couldn't stop shaking. I burned the damn house down and ran."
Michael exhaled through his nose. "So what?"
"So maybe you made me strong," Axel said. "But I made myself survive. Without you. Without your screaming. Without your fists. Without your rules."
Michael stared at him. His eyes twitched once.
"I survived because I found people who cared. I found Daryl. I found Rick. I found Maggie."
"That's not strength," Michael said.
Axel leaned back in the seat and smiled faintly. "Then I'm fine being weak."
They stared at each other in the quiet for a long time.
Then Michael started the car again.
They drove in silence.
---
Hours passed.
They stopped once to refuel from a hidden cache Michael had buried near a burned-out gas station.
Axel watched him dig it up with military precision. The man never wasted a second.
"You never stopped being a soldier," Axel muttered.
Michael tossed the gas can into the car. "Soldiers don't stop until they're dead."
Back in the car, the sun began to fall. Orange light bled through the trees.
Michael pulled off onto a side road that led to a hilltop overlooking an old, abandoned military outpost. It looked fortified. Remote. Quiet.
"This where you've been hiding?" Axel asked.
Michael nodded. "One of many."
They sat on the hood of the car, eating canned beans in silence.
After a while, Axel spoke again.
"Why now?"
Michael looked at him.
"Why come back now?" Axel asked, eyes fixed on the horizon. "Why find me?"
Michael didn't answer for a while. Then he said, "Because something is coming."
Axel turned to him.
Michael's face had gone hard. "You think Alice was the end? She was a parasite. A pawn. There's worse out there."
"Then why not warn Alexandria?" Axel asked.
Michael scoffed. "Because they won't survive. But you might. If you remember who you are."
Axel frowned. "And who is that?"
Michael stood up, his back to the setting sun. "You're my son. And whether you like it or not, that means something in this world."
Axel stood too.
"No," he said. "I'm Axel. And whatever that means, it's mine to decide."
Michael turned his head, just slightly. "You'll see, boy. The world's not done with you. And neither am I."
They stood in silence.
The sun dipped below the horizon.
And the road ahead stretched into the dark.
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